Wire reinforcement



Nov. 23, 1943. w. BRIDGES WIRE REINFORCEMENT Filed Feb. 11, 1941 MM Mr w 5 m .wa a F W Patcnted Nov. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIRE REINFORCEMENT Walter Bridges, Chelsea, London, England, assignor to The Projectile & Engineering Company, Limited, Battersea, London, England Application February 11, 1941, Serial No. 378,479

InGreat Britain November 1, 1940 3 Claims. ('61. 29-1432) forcement of wire to bodies other than metal,

cylinders.

It is well known in the art to apply a wire reinforcement to,hollow bodies, but previously such reinforcements have been designed to afford greater resistance to'internal stresses.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a wire reinforcement which will afford greater resistance to penetration or disruption from without. It is true, of course, that a wire reinforcement in accordance with this invention will also aflord greater resistance to internal stresses which may be set up in the body, but the considerations involved in the application of a wire reinforcement to resist external forces are entirely different from those involved in the applicationof a wire reinforcement designed to resist internal stresses. It will be appreciated that for the former purpose the wire itself, if it is to be effective, must have appreciable powers of resistance against penetration, and ductable wire such as brass or copper wire and the like which is suitable for use as a reinforcement against internal stresses and which incidentally can be readily applied to the exterior of bodies, is quite unsuitable. The type of wire which may be instanced as being suitable in carrying the present invention into effect is that known as piano-wire. Other wires having similar high resistance qualities may, however, be employed.

The method by which a hollow body such as a metal cylinder or container is reinforced by wire consists in binding the wire around the external surface of the cylinder or part thereof, successive coils of wire preferably lying in contact with one another. It will be appreciated that pianowire and similar wire is extremely diflicult to manipulate and in particular great difliculty is experienced in anchoring the wire at the commencement of the binding operation, and generally in starting the binding operation and ensuring that the first few coils are bound tightly round the body and in close proximity with one another. This difficulty is, of course, increased by virtue of the tension which must necessarily be applied to the wire to ensure that it is in fact bound tightly round the body. An important object of the present invention resides in overcoming these difficulties. I

With this and other objects in view the invention, as viewed'from one aspect, provides a method of applying a wound reinforcement of wirc, especially a high tensile or high resistance wire such for example as piano wire, to the exterior of a body, which comprises surrounding the body with a ring at at least one end of the area to be reinforced, securing the end of the wire to said ring, winding the wire onto the body, and securing the last end of the wire to said first ring or to a ring surrounding the body of the wire is hooked around the lug, and the latter is bent down over the first few turns of the wire.

As viewed from another aspect, the invention provides a method of applying a wound reinforcement of wire to the exterior of a body, which comprises surrounding the body with a ring at each end of the area to be reinforced by winding, said rings having at least two lugs or tongues, hooking the end of the wire around one lug, winding the reinforcement on between the rings, bending said lug down over turns of the wire, hooking or bending the last end of the wire around the other lug, and bending the latter down over the turns of wire.

The invention also includes a body, having an external reinforcement of helically wound wire each end of which is secured by being hooked around a projection on a ring surrounding the body.

The foregoing and other features of the invention set out in the appended claims are incorporated in the method and article now to be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a view of a wound container, according to this invention, showing the manner in which the container is supported for the winding operation;

Figure 2 is a perspective view, showing the two rings;

Figure 3 is a perspective view, partly in sec- .tion, showing an initial stage in the winding, before the lug is bent down;

Figure 4 is a like view taken at a in the winding: while Figure 5 is a like view showing the manner in which the end of the wire is secured at the conclusion of the winding operation.

In the illustrated example a wire reinforcement in accordance with the present invention is applied to a light steel cylinder or bottle ill of the type employed for'storing gases at high pressure and which may be exposed to risk of puncture from high velocity missiles. The ends lib, Ibc of the cylinders of this type are normally somewhat thicker than the central cylindrical portion Ilia. Consequently the wire reinforcement need be applied only to the latter portion. Before commencing to apply the wire two brass or other soft metal rings or straps II, I! of push flt diameter are placed around the cylinder one at each end of that portion to be wired. The thickness of each of these rings is preferably small in relation to the later stage I width, and each ring is provided with a plurality of axial slots or cuts I3 which extend from the inner edge thereof, that is to say the edges which are facing one another when the rings are positioned on the cylinder, over a distance which may conveniently be approximately half the width of the straps or rings. one ring II, which may conveniently be termed the starting ring, is formed with a plurality of lug or extensions Ila, ilb, which project from the edge opposite to that in which the slots are formed. The other ring l2, which for convenience may be termed the end ring, may also be provided with similar extensions which are adapted to be bent upwardly at right angles, or alternatively and preferably is formed with a continuousupturned flange I B.

The cylinder III with rings ll, i2, assembled thereonis suitably gripped in a holder in such a manner that the cylinder may be rotated on its longitudinal axis. Advantageously, it is gripped in a lathe or equivalent tool. This is illustrated in Fig. l. The "bottle" there shown has hemispherical ends ilib, iilc, and a neck It. A plug I! is fltted in the latter, to be engaged by the tailstock centre It, and the container is further located and driven by means of a sleeve I! which is gripped by the chuck 20 of the tool and bears against the end lib of the container. The said end partly-protrudes: into the mouth of the sleeve, which is therefore chamfered interiorly. The piano or other high resistance wire 2i is now wound on the cylinder ill between the two rings ii, l2, the winding process being commenced with the wire on the starting'ring ii, and continued until the end ring i2 is reached, when, continuing the winding process, the wire is wound back upon itself until the starting ring is again reached and the wire is severed and the loose end made secure. It will be appreciated that the wire must of necessity be wound under tension, and in the present example a tension corresponding to a thirty pound weight may be applied to the wire.

When commencing the winding operation the lugs I ia, Mb, on the starting ring I l are bent upwards and the starting end 2la of the wire is hooked around one of these, for example, lug Ha as shown in Fig. 3. After a few, say two, laps of wire have been completed all of the lugs Ida, ltb except one'are bent down over the wire and are preferably of such a length that the ends of the lugs extend inwardly beyond the first two laps and are flattened down on that part of the ring extending inwardly of the laps which latter are therefore trapped by the lugs. This will be appreciated from Fig. 4.

Continuing the winding operation the next few laps are of necessity wound over the forward parts of the lug or lugs I la, flattened down on the ring II as aforesaid, and because each such lug constitutes an incline or projection on the surface of the ring the first few laps are preferably soldered in position before commencing the run along the cylinder body. Consequent upon the compression exerted by the wire 2! on the commencing ring Ii the slots l3 in such ring are closed, and as a consequence the ring securely grips the cylinder body and slipping of the ring around such body is thereby prevented. As a result it will be appreciated that a thoroughly secure and non-slipping start of the binding is ensured and the binding can now be continued by rotation of the cylinder. The winding process is continued until the end ring I2 is reached and the last lap is laid in contact with the upturned flange IE or the upturned lugs of such ring. Consequent upon the pressure exerted by the wire on the end ring I! the. slots i3 of such ring will be also closed and the ring will be caused to grip securely the cylinder body. If only a single layer of binding is to be applied to the cylinder the end of the wire is hooked around one of the lugs Ila (provided, under these circumstances, on ring I!) and such lug is or lugs are bent over to trap the last few, say two, layers of wire which have been laid. If, however, more than one layer of wire is to be laid on the cylinder the end ring I! is preferably formed with an upturned flange I! as stated, and after the first layer of wire 2i has been laid and the flange IS on the end ring l2 has been reached, winding of the wire is continued in the reverse direction so that a second layer is laid immediately upon the top of the first layer, such second layer extending in the direction from the end ring H to the starting ring ii. After completing the winding of the second layer of the wire the last turn thereof is tinned and soldered in position before the tension is released from the wire and is then hooked, as at Zlb, Fig. 5, around that lug I 4b on the starting ring II which was not bent over at the commencement of the winding operation, and such lug Nb, after the ,wire has been hooked around it, is bent over so that it traps the end of the wire which may now be severed, and also bears down upon the last few, say two, coils of wire that have been wound. It will be noted from Figs. 3 and 5 that the two ends of the wire are hooked in opposite directions around their re= spective lugs Ma and Nb.

It will be appreciated that consequent upon the foregoing operation the parallel portion of the cylinder is completely encased in either one layer or' two layers of high tensile steel wire by which great resistance to puncture is afforded without the weight of the cylinder being appreciably increased. If, now, a cylinder reinforced in accordance with this invention is hit by a missile such as a bullet or a bomb or a shell splinter, the end parts of the cylinder being thicker than the cylindrical part will resist penetration, and

if the missile hits the cylindrical part penetrareinforcement being hit by a missile as aforetween the two brass rings. The result, of course,

would be that the wire would immediately unwind. To guard against this it is within the scope of the invention to apply solder to the wire reinforcement. This is preferably done after the reinforcement has been applied to the cylinder in the manner herein described, and the cylinder may then be partially immersed and rotated in a hot solder bath whereby each lap or turn of wire is secured not only to the cylinder wall but to every other lap or turn of wire.

The rings H, l2 may be of any convenient construction. It is preferred, however, that they shall be made of tinned metal strip, bent to bring the ends together, which ends are connected by a dove-tail joint 22. In the soldering operation this joint 22 is made fast.

As previously stated, the foregoing embodiment is given merely by way of example and is not to be construed in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A method of applying a wound reinforcement of wire to the exterior of a body, which comprises positioning and frictionally retaining a ring having projections about the body adjacent at least one end of the area to be wound;

then hooking one end of the wire around one of said projections; winding the wire in contiguous convolutions around the body throughout said area; then hooking the other end of the wire aroundone of said ring projections; and then bending the projections down over at least one turn of the winding.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the projection at the first end of the wire is bent down after a few turns of wire have been wound, and subsequent turns are wound over the down- 15 turned projection. n

3. A body, having a wound exterior reinforcement of metal filament binding an area thereof in helical fashion, which reinforcement comprises an even number of layers of contiguous convo- 20 lutions of said filament; a ring surrounding the body at an end of the area; and means fastening both ends of the filament to said ring comprising two lugs on said ring, each having one end of the filament hooked around it. 25 WALTER BRIDGES. 

